Unresponsive keyboard in for Mac Users

The Case

We've recently received a few reports from some of our Mac users that their keyboards seem unresponsive when launching applications in HarborCloud. They typically encounter this issue when prompted to log into their file and they need to use their keyboard to type for the first time in HarborCloud. After waiting several seconds (and for some users, up to a few minutes), users are able to type.

Note the mouse works just fine and users can click within their files without issue. The unresponsiveness is isolated to just the keyboard. Windows-based users are not affected.

The Cause

The recent Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 update -- which came out around September 17, 2014 -- has caused some conflict with a few existing services, one of which is the Citrix Receiver. Mac users outside of HarborCloud have reported similar cases of unresponsive keyboards when using Citrix technology. The issue appears to be exclusive to Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 and the Citrix Receiver for Mac. Users who have not upgraded to OS X 10.9.5 are not affected.

The issue has been brought to the attention of both Apple and Citrix. You can find related articles and forum posts below:

The Cure

At this time there is only a temporary solution available, as discussed in both the Citrix and Apple posts listed above. Essentially, simply toggling the active window on your Mac computer seems to do the trick. Thus, if you are a Mac user and find your keyboard to be unresponsive when launching an application in HarborCloud, then please do the following:

Hit Command + Tab (toggles the active window on your Mac)

Click on the Citrix Viewer icon on your dock (makes the session the active window again)

Type!

Ultimately either Apple and/or Citrix will take appropriate measures to offer a permanent solution to this issue caused by the OS X update. In the meantime, please employ the above solution to quickly restore your keyboard's functionality in a Citrix session. As always, if you need any assistance performing these steps, feel free to let us know.